Working with Youth-at-Risk in Hong Kong

Francis Wing-lin Lee

Publication Year: 2005

This volume is a collection of chapters covering various aspects of the youth problem. Besides examining the causes of the problem and the principles behind the solution, different and effective approaches in working with the various categories of at-risk youths are introduced. The overall aim is to help this group of young people to lead a healthy life and integrate into society as contributing members. The book contains both theory and practice, and is suitable for social work students and professionals.

Cover

Title, Dedication, Copyright

Contents

Foreword

It was more than thirty years ago that I started my career as a social
worker. My first job was with the Government's Social Welfare
Department and my assignment was to work as a Probation Officer to
serve the Juvenile Court. At that time, we were already using the term
"youth-at-risk", though its Chinese equivalent, "feizai", referred to
youths whose social behaviours were not so acceptable. Since then, I...

Preface

A colloquial term for "Youth-at-risk" is "Marginal youth". It connotes
"standing on the edge of becoming a juvenile delinquent". This type of
young people are considered quite risky as they are likely to break the
law and could become official delinquents. Around 6,000 juveniles (7-
15) have been arrested each year over the past 10 years (Commissioner...

Contributors

1. Introduction: The Phenomena of "Youth-at-Risk" in Hong Kong

From a developmental perspective, every one of us has different
developmental tasks to fulfill at different stages in the life process and
is prone to be at risk if the tasks are not fulfilled/satisfied. But why are
young people or adolescents usually regarded as more at risk? Young...

2. Service Programmes for "Youth-at-Risk" in Hong Kong

The destructive power of young people had caught the government's
attention by the mid-1960s after a series of youth riots, which
demonstrated how destabilizing a force youth power could be on society
(Commission of Inquiry, 1967). By the late 1970s, the delinquent
behaviours of young people had become so alarming that it led to the...

4. Working with Young Substance Abusers: A Harm Reduction Approach

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the drug/substance use
scene in Hong Kong has been changing drastically, particularly with
regards to young people. With the imported rave/disco and dance culture
from the West, the number of young people taking Ecstasy (XTC) and
Ketamine (K) has risen in the last few years. Taking Ecstasy has become...

5. Strategies for Tackling School Bullying: A Whole-School Approach

Bullying among school pupils is not a new phenomenon. The fact that some pupils are persistently rejected, harassed and physically hurt by other pupils has been described in mass media as well as in literature. In Hong Kong, there has been a growing concern about the violent and bullying behaviour of students in the media. In 1997, a boy was tortured ...

6. Police Diversion Measures for Juveniles at Risk

What is diversion? How does it work? Does it work? Although these questions seem simple enough, the answers are more complex and must be understood in particular historical, cultural and social contexts. At a broad level, diversion is a strategy designed to divert offenders from the criminal justice system. In some instances, it is used as a pre-arrest ...

7. Community Support Service Scheme — Project Phoenix

The issue of youth-at-risk (YAR) has raised much concern from the
public and the government. There is an outcry for more allocation of
resources for services to the YAR, and more funding should be pooled
into related services. The recent expansion of Community Support
Service Schemes (CSSSs), District Outreaching Service, Young Night...

8. Effectiveness of Services to "Youth-at-Risk":
The Case of Outreaching Social Work

There are various kinds of services available to the at-risk youth who
exhibit different degrees of risky behaviours. Among the services,
Outreaching Social Work (OSW) has the longest history of development
since June 1979. In this paper, the first focus will be on discussing the ...

9. Rethinking Youth Problems in a Risk Society:
Some Reflections on Working with "Youth-at-Risk"
in Hong Kong

Youth has long been a concern of the government and the social work
profession in Hong Kong, both in terms of care and control. Despite
the recent re-organization and restructuring of service at the district
level, youth work remains one of the largest service areas in the terrain
of social work in the SAR. Notwithstanding this, however, the history...

10. Working with "Youth-at-Risk": The Way Ahead

Different chapters have discussed the various approaches to working
with YAR who have different problems. The approaches employed to
work with YAR, to a large extent, depend on our understanding of the
causes of their problems. There can be various perspectives on
understanding youth problems/deviance. These include the...

Welcome to Project MUSE

Use the simple Search box at the top of the page or the Advanced Search linked from the top of the page to find book and journal content. Refine results with the filtering options on the left side of the Advanced Search page or on your search results page. Click the Browse box to see a selection of books and journals by: Research Area, Titles A-Z, Publisher, Books only, or Journals only.